The finish had been reduced by six kilometres yesterday due to high winds to slightly dampen expectations of a key general classification battle on the historic climb, but the iconic ascent descended quickly into a farce after an incident with a race motorbike.

Australia’s Richie Porte, who was climbing with Froome and Dutchman Bauke Mollema in a crucial three-man move in the overall standings, crashed into the back of the vehicle which had abruptly stopped, reportedly due to the packed crowds.

A domino effect saw Froome and Mollema fall behind Porte, with only the Dutchman able to remount his bike and continuing heading towards the finish of the 178km stage.

By contrast, the yellow jersey was left running up the climb, due to having no replacement bike available, allowing Colombia’s Nairo Quintana and second placed Briton Adam Yates, who had both been dropped earlier on the climb, to pass.

After eventually receiving a bike, Froome and Porte eventually crossed the line, but ended 1min 40sec down on Mollema, while their other key rivals were also able to claw much need time back.

At the finish in Chalet-Reynard, confusion reigned over whether the result would stand, given that Yates had won back time earlier in the race after the one kilometre to go banner had landed on him on stage seven.

A decision was eventually reached to award Froome and Porte the same time as Mollema, which meant that the British rider extended his overall race lead over Yates to 47 seconds.

Mollema’s strong display saw him rise to third over Ireland’s Dan Martin, with the Dutchman 56 seconds adrift of Froome but five ahead of Quintana, whose Tour de France hopes took a significant blow.

Amidst the confusion of the stage finish, Thomas De Gendt victory on Ventoux had become almost a secondary story, the Belgian having battled to the win over his countryman Serge Pauwels from a breakaway group.

Following the chaotic day, Froome will have the chance to extend his lead in the race further in tomorrow’s 37.5km individual time trial from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc.

The third stage of the Tour of Poland, another International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race, saw Italy's Niccolo Bonifazio sprint to victory.

Bonifazio finished the 240km third stage in Zawiercie ahead of the Netherlands' Moreno Hofland and Slovenia's Luka Mezgec, while Colombia's Fernando Gaviria maintained his race lead.